Public lands need protection

By Randi Pokladnik

For the first eight years of my life, our family lived in a small rented house in Steubenville, Ohio. We had a tiny yard lacking any trees, so my mom would take my siblings and me to a local park. She would pack us a picnic lunch complete with a thermos of lemonade and we would ride the bus to Steubenville’s Beatty Park.

The time we spent at the park was magical. I think it makes me appreciate how valuable public lands like state parks and wildlife areas are today. In SE Ohio, parks also help our local economy. The outdoor recreation economy netted Ohio $20 billion in 2024 and employed more than 150,000 people. So why do Ohio’s politicians continue to support fracking our parks and wildlife areas, risking economic losses and degradation of the land?

For over three years, Ohio citizens have tried in vain to stop the leasing of Ohio’s State parks and wildlife areas to out-of-state oil and gas companies. If Ohioans had been able to submit public comments for HB 507, the bill that opened up the public lands to fracking, they would have said NO to fracking our public lands. But HB 507 was passed during a lame duck session in December 2022, with no public input. Ohioans continue to be excluded from fracking decisions, as the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission meets in Columbus, a 2-hour drive from the communities where most of the parks targeted for fracking are located.

The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) is a five-member group responsible for deciding whether or not nominated portions of public lands or parks will be leased. The commission’s five members deciding the fate of Ohio’s parks and wildlife areas were all appointed by Governor DeWine. There has been considerable turnover of commission members during the past year, but the commission make-up remains primarily that of lawyers. The newest member, Chair Theresa White, is also the chief operating officer of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

No one on the OGLMC has any significant background in health or science. Additionally, there are no doctoral degree scientists working at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Science is not guiding the decisions to frack our parks; money is. On March 31, 2026, the OGLMC decided to lease more than 8,000 acres at Egypt Valley Wildlife Area and more than 500 acres at Salt Fork State Park, during a meeting that lasted less than 20 minutes.

What was discussed during that 20-minute period? The OGLMC are supposedly guided by the statute ORC 155.33, which says the commission can “approve or disapprove” lease nominations on the basis of nine considerations, including economic benefit, environmental impact, geological impact, impact on visitors, and public comments and objections. Considering the number of leases “rubber stamped” since this process began, it begs the question of what is really considered behind closed doors. During a January meeting this year, Theresa White said, “nothing legally requires the commission to explain its decisions.”

I live in Harrison County where there are approximately 3,700 active oil and gas wells, making us the #1 oil and gas producing county in the state. Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, a biodiverse ecosystem located in our county, has been leased for fracking. As a scientist with a background in forest ecology as well as chemistry, I take exception to a recent comment from Theresa White: “None of the fracking is going to have well pads or production units on state property. So, this is for the oil and gas that is underneath state parks, underneath the wildlife areas. There’s oversight by the DNR division of oil and gas or resources management.”

Just because a well pad is not directly on a piece of land does not mean it doesn’t affect the surrounding area. Studies show that “living within about 3 miles of well pad flaring is associated with increased risk of preterm birth.” There isn’t a glass enclosure around well pads, so any air emissions float freely from the well pad. These emissions include methane and other volatile organic species like ethane, propane, n-hexane, n-octane, benzene and ethyne. A FLIR GF320 optical gas imaging camera can detect 19 different hydrocarbons that are released during a fracking operation.

Frack pads also contaminate local water sources. Chemical leaks and leaks of produced water from well pads contain contaminants like oil, grease, hydrocarbons, as well as heavy metals like arsenic, antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, and zinc. Leaks from chemical additives stored on-site in tanks and radioactive radium isotopes in produced waste also threaten local water quality. These contaminants will make their way to streams and surface water in our parks regardless of where the well pad is located.

Fracking requires millions of gallons of surface water. Ohio law allows stream withdrawals of up to 2 million gallons a day for a 30-day period. ODNR records show that fracking by far uses a large percentage of surface water in fracked counties, the same counties that experienced record droughts in 2024 and 2025. A drive past well pads often reveal water lines pumping water from local streams.

Lastly, park visitors and wildlife will find it difficult to communicate once fracking has started. The noise from a well pad less than a mile from our home sounds like the Cleveland Airport runway; constant 24-hour noise. Ms. White and the OGLMC need to visit a well pad so they can experience first hand the damage that a frack pad has on a forested ecosystem.

“Over the past eight years, approximately 2,000 recorded incidents associated with oil and gas wells occurred in Ohio.” Given the number of accidents and spills at well pads, it is obvious that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources cannot be counted on to protect our parks.

Ohio’s public lands should not be sacrificed at the altar of the oil and gas industry, but sadly they are. As Earth Day approaches, isn’t it time for all Ohioans to push back against the politicians that are willing to sacrifice our precious public lands for a buck?

Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.

This commentary first ran in the Marietta Times on April 11, 2026.